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Life from my point of view

Monthly Archives: June 2014

The past few years have seen numerous weddings taking place among my friends and family. This is a joyous occasion to learn of their happiness, to share in their joy and be a part of their new life. No doubt about that, at least, until the process that climbs up to their eventual nuptials.

Typically a boy meets girl, they date, they feel very good with each other, and finally a proposal, usually on the guy side, and eventually planning their new life with a house and some celebratory events, provided she said ‘yes’. Well, this is somewhat different in a country where your finances shift faster out of your hands than you see actual results, and that is putting things mildly in perspective.

The process of a happy marriage takes on a slightly different process in Singapore: Boy meets girl; they date, they feel very good with each other. Up to this point, all is well, but when it comes to taking the next step forward, is when things start to become complicated, or rather in my opinion, redundant. Instead of a pure surprise of a proposal with the lady either screaming with joy at the top of her lungs, or simply crying tears of joy when her significant other half pops the questions out of nowhere. The Singapore way will see the couple take a queue number to get an apartment, settle all necessary formalities, perhaps getting their keys to their apartment, and one fine day, he just pops the question to ask for her hand in marriage. Of course, she will also be showing the same kind of expressions as what I have mentioned previously, but at the back of the mind: it has become a sure ‘yes’ thing, or she would not be in the queue line with him in the first place, queuing to get a house, right? One of the clauses of securing a public apartment in Singapore is to have the couple’s eventual marriage in a stipulated time. Then would it not be obvious that by applying for the flat together, eventually will be the path that the couple will be taking? If that being so, shouldn’t the proposal be done years earlier before the couple get a queue number?

Let’s face it: since the wait for a home is going to take 5 years (on average), and the couple is sure (or the feeling of it) that they want to be together for all their lives, the guy should be popping the question and asking her to marry him 5 years ago, before they go to the HDB office for a queue, get keys, and maybe in these 5 years, strengthen their relationship as well as plan their celebration. 5 years will pass in a blink of an eye. And the surprise when he pops the question: really priceless; not when everything is already a done deal, and then pops the question where you already know what the answer would be. If you really want to surprise her at this point of time, maybe a surprise party with a tagline “We are getting married!” that would be more logical, and just as surprising.

In any case, this is just my opinion, and each couple has their special way of informing the masses of their intention for celebration. Good luck, guys!